Moving object and driving support system for moving object

ABSTRACT

A driving support system includes a first monitoring device on a first object, the first monitoring device having a first controller, a first camera, and a first display, a second monitoring device on a second object, the second monitoring device having a second controller and a second camera, and a server in communication with the first and second monitoring devices. The first and second controllers are each detect a target in images acquired from the respective first or second camera, calculate target information for the target, and transmit the target information to the server. The server generates list information including the target information from the first and second monitoring devices, and transmits the list information to the first and second monitoring devices. The first controller further generates a map according to the list information received from the server, and displays the map on the first display.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/371,315, filed on Apr. 1, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/906,378, filed on Feb. 27, 2018, now U.S.Pat. No. 10,262,533, issued on Apr. 16, 2019, which is based upon andclaims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No.2017-053462, filed on Mar. 17, 2017, the entire contents of each ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a moving object and adriving support system including the moving object.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, there have been proposed in-vehicle devices thatinclude cameras or various sensors on vehicles, to collect informationabout the vehicle's surroundings to give warnings if a driver overlooksa danger detected by the camera/or sensor.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an overall configuration of a driving support systemaccording to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a driving support system according to thefirst embodiment.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams of storage regions of ROMs.

FIG. 4 depicts an operation example of an image recognition program.

FIG. 5A depicts example conditions for a danger level based ondistances.

FIG. 5B depicts example conditions for a danger level based on speeddifferences.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are flowcharts of vehicle systems.

FIG. 7 is a top view of an example of a monitoring area at a particulartime T1.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C depict visual information from vehicles in themonitoring area at the particular time T1, respectively.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, and 9C depict image recognition from the vehicles in themonitoring area at the particular time T1.

FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C depict example information transmitted by thevehicles, respectively.

FIG. 11 depicts two monitoring areas having an overlapping portion.

FIG. 12 depicts an example interest list generated by a server datacontrol unit.

FIG. 13 is a top view of example visual information of a vehicle at atime T1+ΔT.

FIGS. 14A, 14B, and 14C depict real-time maps displayed on a displayunit of the vehicles, respectively, at the time T1+ΔT.

FIG. 15 depicts example icons displayed on a display unit of the vehiclein FIG. 14A.

FIG. 16 is a top view of a monitoring area at another time T2.

FIGS. 17A, 17B, and 17C depict real-time maps displayed on a displayunit of vehicles, respectively, at a time T2+ΔT.

FIG. 18 depicts an overall configuration of a driving support systemaccording to a second embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a driving support system according to thesecond embodiment.

FIGS. 20A and 20B are flowcharts of a monitoring system.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of a storage region of a ROM.

FIG. 22 depicts an overall configuration of a driving support systemaccording to a third embodiment.

FIG. 23 depicts an overall configuration of a driving support systemaccording to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a top view of a monitoring area including a curve mirror anda person carrying a device at time T2.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart of a vehicle system of a driving support systemcorresponding to FIG. 20B.

FIGS. 26A and 26B depict overall configurations of a driving supportsystem according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a top view of monitoring areas A and B at time T3.

FIG. 28 depicts example list information of a vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, according to one embodiment, a driving support systemincludes a first monitoring device on a first object, the firstmonitoring device having a first controller, a first camera, and a firstdisplay, a second monitoring device on a second object, the secondmonitoring device having a second controller and a second camera, and aserver in communication with the first and second monitoring devices.The first and second controllers are each configured to detect a targetin images acquired from the respective first or second camera, calculatetarget information for the target, and transmit the target informationto the server. The server is configured to generate list informationincluding the target information from the first and second monitoringdevices, and transmit the list information to the first and secondmonitoring devices when the first and second objects are within a firstmonitoring area. The first controller is further configured to generatea map according to the list information received from the server, anddisplay the map on the first display.

Hereinafter, example embodiments will be described with reference to thedrawings. In the following description, substantially similar componentsare denoted by the same reference numerals and a detailed description ofthese components will be omitted. In addition, the embodiments describedbelow are shown as examples for illustrative purposes and the depictedmaterials, shapes, structures, arrangements, and the like are forexample and not limitations.

In the following description, a moving object will be described mainlyas a vehicle. It should be noted that the particular vehicles describedbelow are some possible examples of a moving object and do not limit thepresent disclosure.

Terms to be used in the example embodiments describe below are definedas follows.

(1) “Driving Information”: Driving information includes a current time,and a vehicle ID, a position, a traveling direction, a speed, andacceleration of a vehicle at the current time.

(2) “Target Information”: Target information includes a type, aposition, a traveling direction, a speed, and acceleration of an objectthat is detected according to an image of a vehicle's surroundings.

(3) “List Information”: List information is a combination of the drivinginformation and the target information.

(4) “Monitoring Area”: A monitoring area is a range in which the drivinginformation and the target information acquired by a vehicle are sharedwith other vehicles via a server. The vehicles within the samemonitoring area receive common information from a server.

(5) “Real-time Map”: A real-time map is a map showing targets detectedin a vehicle's surroundings. The real-time map is frequently updated ina real time response to an input signal. A range of the real-time map(also referred to as a mapping area) may be several tens meters from avehicle and may be the same as or smaller than a monitoring area. Thereal-time map is displayed on a display unit, for example, on awindshield of a vehicle.

(6) “Road Division”: Road division is road division according to roadtypes, for example, a highway or an urban area.

(7) “Interest List Information”: Interest list information is collectionof list information of each monitoring area and road divisioninformation corresponding to the position of a vehicle. The interestlist information is stored in a server at each time.

First Embodiment

A driving support system according to a first embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 to 16.

Example of Overall Configuration of Driving Support System

FIG. 1 depicts an overall configuration of a driving support system 100according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the drivingsupport system 100 includes a monitoring system 1 on a vehicle and aserver system 2. Hereinafter, a monitoring system on a vehicle may besimply referred to as a vehicle system.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the vehicle system 1 includes an imagecapturing unit 3, a vehicle data control unit 4 (also referred simply toas a data control unit hereinafter), a time acquisition unit 5, apositional information acquisition unit 6, a speed sensor 7, anacceleration sensor 8, a wireless communication device 9, a display unit10, an alert unit 11, and an actuator control unit 12.

The server system 2 includes a server 20. The server 20 includes aserver data control unit 21 and a transmission and reception unit 25.

Vehicle System 1

The vehicle system 1 is a system that is mounted on, for example, avehicle. The vehicle system 1 acquires driving information regarding thevehicle on which the vehicle system is mounted and transmits the drivinginformation to the server system 2 in conjunction with targetinformation regarding a target, for example, the position of apedestrian or a walking speed, acquired by the vehicle. The vehiclesystem 1 supports safe driving of the vehicle by generating a real-timemap based on the information regarding a target received from the serversystem and displaying a potential danger on, for example, the displayunit 10.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the driving support system 100 according tothe first embodiment.

The vehicle system 1 includes the image capturing unit 3, the vehicledata control unit 4, the time acquisition unit 5, the positionalinformation acquisition unit 6, the speed sensor 7, the accelerationsensor 8, the wireless communication device 9, the display unit 10, thealert unit 11, and the actuator control unit 12.

The image capturing unit 3 is, for example, a CCD camera. The imagecapturing unit 3 images, for example, the front or the periphery of thevehicle. The image capturing unit 3 is connected to the vehicle datacontrol unit 4. The image capturing unit 3 typically transmits acaptured image or moving image to the vehicle data control unit 4.

The time acquisition unit 5 includes a clock or the like and acquires acurrent time. However, in some embodiments a clock is not provided inthe time acquisition unit 5. For example, a current time may be acquiredexternally.

The positional information acquisition unit 6 receives a signal from aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) satellite or the like and acquires theposition of the vehicle. However, the positional information acquisitionunit 6 may acquire a signal for specifying the position of the vehicleother than a signal from the GPS satellite.

The speed sensor 7 and the acceleration sensor 8 measure a speed andacceleration of the vehicle.

The vehicle data control unit 4 controls the entire vehicle system 1.The vehicle data control unit 4 includes, for example, a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 41, a read-only memory (ROM) 42, a random-accessmemory (RAM) 43, an interface for input and output control, and a busline 44. As illustrated in FIG. 3A, the ROM 42 stores various programs30 p to 39 p. The CPU 41 reads the programs to the RAM 43 to beexecuted.

The image recognition program 30 p is a program for executing imageprocessing on the image or the moving image input from the imagecapturing unit 3 and detects a target such as a person, a vehicle, orthe like. The vehicle data control unit 4 detects a target or a motionof the target from the image or the moving image according to the imagerecognition program 30 p. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 4, thevehicle data control unit 4 executes image processing through fourprocesses, “inputting”, “preprocessing”, “feature data extraction”, and“identification” according to the image recognition program 30 p. In the“inputting” process, inputting, contracting, and cropping an image or amoving image, brightness correction, or distortion correction isexecuted on the image or the moving image. In the “preprocessing”process, noise reduction, stereo parallax calculation, or specifyingsearch candidate region is executed. In the “feature data extraction”process, image analysis or image digitalization is executed. In the“identification” process, a process of identifying and tracking a targetis executed. The image recognition program 30 p may be installed, forexample, with a separate configuration such as an image recognitionprocessor LSI. The configuration of the image recognition processor LSIis disclosed in, for example, US Patent Application Publication No.2012/0183207 applied on Mar. 21, 2011 and titled “Image ProcessingDevice and Image Processing System”, US Patent Application PublicationNo. 2012/0288205 applied on Aug. 11, 2011 and titled “Image ProcessingDevice, Image Processing System, and Image Processing Method”, US PatentApplication Publication No. 2012/0243778 applied on Sep. 9, 2011 andtitled “Image Identifying Device and Image Identifying method”, U.S.Pat. No. 5,978,937 applied on Dec. 28, 1995 and titled “Microprocessorand Debug System”, US Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0244192applied on Mar. 24, 2008 and titled “Multi-processor System”, US PatentApplication Publication No. 2010/0005271 applied on Nov. 12, 2012 andtitled “Memory Controller”, US Patent Application Publication No.2010/0103282 applied on Oct. 28, 2008 and titled “Image ProcessingDevice”, US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0110289 applied onAug. 13, 2009 and titled “Image Processing Processor”, US PatentApplication Publication No. 2010/0034459 applied on Aug. 6, 2009 andtitled “Feature Extraction Device, Feature Extraction Method, ImageProcessing Device, and Program”, US Patent Application Publication No.2012/0057787 applied on Sep. 1, 2011 and titled “Feature DataCalculation Device and Identifying Device”, US Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2013/0326203 applied on Aug. 27, 2012 and titled“Multi-processor”, US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0034465applied on Aug. 6, 2009 and titled “Feature Data Extraction Device,Feature Data Extraction Method, Image Processing Device, and Program”,U.S. Pat. No. 7,444,553 applied on Jun. 9, 2005 and titled “TraceDevice”, and US Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0138371 appliedon Sep. 7, 2010 and titled “Compile Device”. The entire contents of theabove listed applications are incorporated herein by reference.

The traveling direction estimation program 31 p is a program forcalculating an azimuth in a traveling direction of a vehicle based ondriving information of the vehicle, for example, positional information,speed information, or acceleration information. The vehicle data controlunit 4 calculates the traveling direction of the vehicle according tothe traveling direction estimation program 31 p.

For example, when the vehicle obtains latitude and longitude coordinatesin a polar coordinate system (at0, bt0) at time t0 and (at1, bt1) attime t1, an azimuth angle can be calculated from a movement between timet0 and time t1 by the following equation.

Azimuth angle=90 tan⁻¹(sin(at1−at0),cos(bt0)tan(bt1)−sin(bt0)cos(at1−at0))  (1).

Thus, the traveling direction of the vehicle can be calculated. Here,the azimuth angle is measured clockwise from a north base line. In someembodiments coordinates in other coordinate systems may be used. Thetraveling direction may be calculated from a speed or acceleration.

The list information generation program 32 p is a program for listingdriving information of each vehicle and target information regardingtargets detected by each vehicle. A list generated by the vehicle datacontrol unit 4 according to the list information generation program 32 pis referred to as list information. The list information is a list ofinformation such as a vehicle ID, a data acquisition time, GPSpositional information, a traveling direction, and acceleration of avehicle, and a type, relative positional information, a travelingdirection, and acceleration of a target.

FIG. 10 depicts examples of the list information.

The communication processing program 33 p is a program for communicatingwith the server 20.

The relativization program 34 p is a program for calculating a relativedistance or a relative speed of a vehicle to a target based on drivinginformation of the vehicle and information regarding the target in aninterest list.

The real-time mapping generation program 35 p is a program for acquiringinformation regarding a target located in a monitoring area from theinterest list, combining the driving information of the vehicle with theinformation regarding the target in real time, and generating a mapshowing a positional relation between the vehicle and each target aroundthe vehicle.

The danger determination program 36 p is a program for determining adanger level by comparing a relative distance or a relative speedcalculated using the relativization program 34 p to a pre-determinedthreshold. Here, the danger level indicates a possibility that thevehicle collides with a target in the future. For example, when avehicle is running along a predicted driving route and a probability ofcollision with the target increases, a higher danger level isdetermined. For the danger level, there are three levels, danger levels1 to 3. As the probability of collision with the target is higher, thedanger level is higher. That is, the possibility of collision with atarget at danger level 2 is higher than at danger level 1. Thepossibility of collision with a target at danger level 3 is higher thanat danger level 2. At danger level 1, a driver only needs to drive avehicle with caution for a target. At danger level 2, a driver can avoida collision by himself or herself when a probability of collision of avehicle with a target is higher than at danger level 1. At danger level3, a probability of collision of the vehicle with the target furtherincreases to be higher than danger level 2, and thus the driver may notavoid the collision by himself or herself.

FIGS. 5A and 5B depict example conditions for danger level 1. FIG. 5A isa table including distances (referred to as a distance table) between avehicle and various targets in various road divisions at danger level 1or higher. FIG. 5B is a table including speed differences (referred toas a speed difference table) between the vehicle and the various targetsin various road divisions at danger level 1 or higher. A differentthreshold is set for each target at each time in FIGS. 5A and 5B. Anappropriate threshold is preferably set based on information such as abraking distance until a vehicle comes to a complete stop after brakesare fully applied, previous accident information of a driver, and timeduration required to avoid a collision. When danger level is determinedhigher than level 1 for either the distance table or the speeddifference table, a higher danger level is determined. The danger levelmay be determined for each type of targets or each road divisiondifferently if appropriate.

Each table may be stored in the danger determination program 36 p alongwith an algorithm for determining a danger.

Danger levels 2 and 3 are determined similarly to danger level 1.Thresholds at danger levels 2 and 3 in the distance table are smallerthan at level 1, and thresholds at danger levels 2 and 3 in the speeddifference table are larger than at danger level 1. The distance tablesand the speed difference tables of danger levels 2 and 3 are the same asthose in FIGS. 5A and 5B. Since only the values of the thresholds arechanged, the description thereof will be omitted herein.

As described above, the vehicle data control unit 4 determines a dangerlevel by referring to a distance or a speed difference between thevehicle and a target and the thresholds in the tables of FIGS. 5A and 5Baccording to the danger determination program 36 p.

The emphasis display program 37 p is a program for emphasizing an iconof a target with which a collision possibility is high at danger level 1and displaying the icon of the target on a display unit.

The warning program 38 p is a program for transmitting a warning to thealert unit 11 at danger level 2. The alert unit 11 issues a warningsound to prompt a driver to decelerate a vehicle.

The braking control program 39 p is a program for controlling theactuator control unit 12 at danger level 3.

The wireless communication device 9 executes wireless data communicationwith the server system 2. The wireless communication device 9 frequentlytransmits list information to the server 20 or conversely frequentlyreceives the interest list information from the server 20.

The display unit 10 displays a real-time map generated by the vehicledata control unit 4. As the display unit 10, for example, a display maybe installed inside the vehicle. However, a display may be installed ona windshield or the like. On the display unit 10, a target on thereal-time map may also be displayed with an icon or the like.

The alert unit 11 is a device that outputs, for example, a sound, light,or vibration. At danger level 2, the vehicle data control unit 4transmits an execution command to the alert unit 11 according to thewarning program 38 p.

The actuator control unit 12 is executed by the vehicle data controlunit 4 at danger level 3. The actuator control unit 12 controls a motionof the vehicle.

Server System 2

The server system 2 receives the list information from a plurality ofvehicle systems 1. The server data control unit 21 determines amonitoring area to which each vehicle belongs with reference to thepositional information of the vehicle in the received list information.Thereafter, an interest list is generated from the list informationobtained from a plurality of vehicles, each having a vehicle system 1and belonging to the monitoring area. The interest list is transmittedto all the vehicles in the monitoring area. The interest list is a listin which a vehicle ID, the driving information and the list informationcollected at each monitoring area in the server, and informationregarding a current monitoring area corresponding to a road divisionclassified by a type or a grade are summarized at each time. An exampleinterest list will be described with reference FIG. 10 in thedescription of an operation.

The configuration of the server system 2 will be described withreference to FIG. 2.

The server system 2 includes the server 20. The server 20 includes aserver data control unit 21 and a transmission and reception unit 25.

The transmission and reception unit 25 executes wireless communicationbetween the vehicle system 1 and the server system 2. For example, thetransmission and reception unit 25 receives the list information fromthe vehicle system 1. The transmission and reception unit 25 frequentlytransmits the interest list to the vehicle system 1.

The server data control unit 21 controls the entire server system 2. Theserver data control unit 21 includes, for example, a CPU 211, a ROM 212,a RAM 213, an interface 215 for input and output control, and a bus line214 connecting them. As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the ROM 212 storesvarious programs 22 p to 24 p. The CPU 211 reads the programs to the RAM213 to execute the programs.

The monitoring area determination program 22 p is a program fordetermining a monitoring area to which a vehicle belongs from thepositional information of the vehicle included in the list information.

The interest list generation program 23 p is a program for generating aninterest list by chronologically summarizing the driving information orthe target information in all the list information in the monitoringarea.

The communication processing program 24 p is a program for communicatingwith the vehicle system 1.

Operation

Next, an operation according to an example embodiment will be describedwith reference to the flowchart of FIGS. 6A to 6C. In the followingdescription, example arrangements of vehicles and targets illustrated inFIGS. 7 to 15 are considered. It should be noted the particularoperations and arrangements described below are some possible examplesand do not limit the present disclosure.

First, the vehicle system 1 acquires an image or a moving image in theperiphery of the vehicle from the image capturing unit 3 (step S1). Theacquired image or moving image is transmitted from the image capturingunit 3 to the vehicle data control unit 4. The vehicle data control unit4 extracts a type, positional information, a direction, a speed, andacceleration of the acquired target as target information according tothe image recognition program 30 p (step S2). For example, when apedestrian is detected through image recognition, the vehicle datacontrol unit 4 analyzes the image of the pedestrian to obtain aposition, a direction, a speed, and acceleration of the pedestrian.

Subsequently, the vehicle data control unit 4 acquires a current timeand driving information such as a position, a speed, and acceleration ofthe vehicle at the current time in the time acquisition unit 5, thepositional information acquisition unit 6, the speed sensor 7, and theacceleration sensor 8 (step S3). The time acquisition unit 5 acquiresthe current time when the image capturing unit 3 acquires the image orthe moving image.

The vehicle data control unit 4 calculates a traveling direction of thevehicle according to the traveling direction estimation program 31 p(step S4).

In the example embodiments described herein, steps S1 to S4 are executedin this order, but in some embodiments the steps S1 to S4 may beexecuted in a different order. For example, the processes of steps S1and S2 may be executed in parallel with steps S3 and S4.

Subsequently, the vehicle data control unit 4 forms the list informationaccording to the list information generation program 32 p (step S5). Thevehicle data control unit 4 is connected to the server 20 forcommunication according to the communication processing program 33 p(step S6). Then, the wireless communication device 9 transmits the listinformation to the server 20 of the server system 2 (step S7).

FIG. 7 is a top view of an example monitoring area A at time T1. FIGS.8A, 8B, 8C depict visual information from vehicles a, b, and c in themonitoring area A at time T1, respectively. FIGS. 9A, 9B, and 9C depictimage recognition of vehicles a, b, and c at time T1, respectively.

In FIG. 7, the visual information from each vehicle is as follows. Thatis, when viewed from the vehicle a, a building is an obstacle. Thus,pedestrians e and f, a bicycle d, and the vehicle c located at ajunction T may not be seen. The vehicle a in front of the vehicle b canbe seen from the vehicle b, but the pedestrians e and f, the bicycle d,and the vehicle c located at a junction T may not be seen by the vehiclea. The pedestrians e and f and the bicycle d can be seen from thevehicle c, but may not been seen by the vehicles a and b.

In the following description, the vehicle a monitors the vehiclesconsidered and c. The vehicle a acquires the image or the moving imagein the periphery of the vehicle from the image capturing unit 3 in stepS1. In FIG. 7, since there is no target detected by the vehicle a, thereis no information regarding a target in step S2. Subsequently, theprocess proceeds to step S3 and the vehicle data control unit 4 of thevehicle a acquires time T1, a position, a speed, and acceleration whenthe vehicle a acquires the image. The process proceeds to step S4 andthe traveling direction of the vehicle a is calculated.

In step S5, the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle a forms thelist information according to the list information generation program 32p. FIG. 10A depicts an example list information generated by the listinformation generation program 32 p.

In step S6, the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle a connects tothe server 20 for communication. In step S7, the communication device 9of the vehicle a transmits the generated list information to the server20. In the vehicles b and c, steps S1 to S7 are also executed. Sincesteps S1 to S7 are the same, the description thereof will be omitted.FIGS. 10B and 10C depict example list information generated by the listinformation generation program 32 p of the vehicles b and c.

Subsequently, as illustrated in FIGS. 6A to 6C, the transmission andreception unit 25 of the server 20 of the server system 2 receives thelist information transmitted from the plurality of vehicle systems 1(step S8). The received list information is transmitted to the serverdata control unit 21. The server data control unit 21 determines amonitoring area the vehicle belongs to from the first received listinformation according to the monitoring area determination program 22 p(step S9). That is, when the vehicle belongs to the monitoring area A inwhich the positional information of the vehicle is pre-set in the server20, the server data control unit 21 determines that the vehicle islocated to the monitoring area A.

Subsequently, the server data control unit 21 lists the list informationfor each area. The server data control unit generates the interest listusing the interest list generation program 23 p (step S10). The serverdata control unit 21 enables communication between the transmission andreception unit 25 and the vehicle system 1 according to thecommunication processing program 24 (step S11). Then, the transmissionand reception unit 25 transmits the list information to all the vehiclesystems 1 located in the monitoring area (step S12).

The monitoring area A at time T1 illustrated in FIG. 7 is determined asfollows. The transmission and reception unit 25 receives the listinformation illustrated in FIGS. 10A to 10C from each vehicle. In stepS9, the server data control unit 21 acquires the positional informationin the list information and determines the monitoring area.

In the example embodiments described herein, positional information(Xa1, Ya1) of the vehicle a, positional information (Xb1, Yb1) of thevehicle b, and positional information (Xc1, Yc1) of the vehicle c attime T1 indicated in the list information illustrated in FIGS. 10A to10C are assumed to be located in the monitoring area A, and the serverdata control unit 21 determines that the vehicles a to c belong to themonitoring area A.

Monitoring Area

In the example embodiments described herein, the monitoring area isassumed to be, for example, a square with one side of 10 m asillustrated in FIG. 11. Each monitoring area has an overlapping portionD with an adjacent monitoring area. Thus, even when the vehicle ismoving, the vehicle transitions from one monitoring area to anothermonitoring area continuously. In the example embodiments describedherein, the monitoring area is square-shaped, but the monitoring areamay be a circular area with a radius of 10 m and the outer circumferenceof the circle may passes through the center of an adjacent circle.

Even when the vehicle a is moving, the monitoring area to which thevehicle a belongs is not changed as long as the vehicle a stays in thesame monitoring area. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the server datacontrol unit 21 determines that the vehicle a is in the monitoring areaA as long as the positional information of the vehicle a belongs to themonitoring area A. In FIG. 11, the monitoring area A includes an innerportion A1 and an outer circumference A2, and a monitoring area Bsimilarly includes an inner portion B1 and an outer circumference B2.When the vehicle a moves from the monitoring area A to the monitoringarea B passing over the boundary between the monitoring areas, themonitoring area to which the vehicle a belongs is changed. However,since the monitoring areas A and B have the overlapping portion D, theserver data control unit 21 can change the monitoring area of thevehicle in a seamless manner. Even when the vehicle belongs to themonitoring area with a larger area, the vehicle may be assumed to belongboth of the overlapping areas in the overlapping portion D. In thiscase, the vehicle receives all the interest lists overlapping areas fromthe server 20.

Subsequently, the server data control unit 21 generates the interestlist for each area from the received list information in step S10. FIG.12 depicts an example interest list generated by the server data controlunit 21. The interest list in FIG. 12 is information including the listinformation regarding each vehicle illustrated in FIG. 10.

In step S11, the server data control unit 21 is connected to all thevehicles a, b, and c belonging to the monitoring area A forcommunication. Then, in step S12, the transmission and reception unit 25transmits the interest list illustrated in FIG. 12 to all the vehiclesconnected for communication.

The server 20 acquires the driving information and the list informationin real time from the vehicles. The server data control unit 21subsequently generates the interest list of the monitoring area A basedon the acquired driving information and list information. The generatedinterest list is transmitted to all the vehicles located in themonitoring area every time in step S12. That is, the vehicles belongingto the same monitoring area frequently receive the common interest listfrom the server 20.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the wireless communication device 9 of thevehicle system 1 receives the interest list from the server system 2(step S13). The vehicle data control unit 4 executes the followingprocess from the interest list information.

The vehicle data control unit 4 calculates the relative distance or therelative speed based on the driving information of the vehicle andinformation regarding a target in the interest list according to therelativization program 34 p (step S14). A time lag occurs at the time oftransmission and the time of reception due to passing through the server20 once, but the list information is corrected based on the positionalinformation of the vehicle. That is, deviation in the list informationoccurring due to the time lag is corrected based on the positionalinformation of the vehicle at the time of reception and the relativeposition of the target is calculated again based on the position fromthe vehicle.

Subsequently, the vehicle data control unit 4 generates the real-timemap centering on the vehicle using the real-time mapping generationprogram 35 p based on the interest list (step S15).

The vehicle data control unit 4 confirms whether the determination ofthe danger level has been completed for all the targets according to thedanger determination program 36 p (step S16). After the danger levels ofall the targets are determined (YES in step S16), the process returns tostep S13. Conversely, when the determination of the danger level has notbeen completed (NO in step S16), the danger level of an unprocessedtarget continues to be determined according to the danger determinationprogram 36 p (step S17).

The vehicle data control unit 4 determines danger level in accordancewith the relative distance or the relative speed of the vehicle to thetarget calculated in step S14 according to the danger determinationprogram 36 p (step S18). When the danger level exceeds 1 (YES in stepS18), the process proceeds to determination of danger level 2 at whichthe degree of danger is higher (step S19). However, when danger leveldoes not reach 1 in step S18 (NO in step S18), the process returns tostep S16. When the danger level does not reach 2 in step S19 (NO in stepS19), the vehicle data control unit 4 determines that the danger levelis 1 (step S20). At this time, the vehicle data control unit 4emphasizes the icon of the target on the real-time map according to theemphasis display program 37 p and displays the emphasized icon of thetarget on the display unit. At that time, a target located in a blindspot in which the target is not viewable from the vehicle may also beemphasized to be displayed. In this case, the danger level is determinedwith reference to the threshold for determining the danger level of thetarget based on whether the target is located in the blind spot of thevehicle, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

When the danger level is equal to or greater than 2 (YES in step S19),the process proceeds to determine whether the danger level is 3 (stepS21). When the danger level does not reach the danger level 3 in stepS21 (NO in step S21), the vehicle data control unit 4 determines thatthe danger level is 2 (step S22). The vehicle data control unit 4 issuesa warning signal to the alert unit 11 according to the warning program38 p. The alert unit 11 issues a warning by outputting a sound or light.When the danger level is 3 is step S21 (YES in step S21), the vehicledata control unit 4 determines that the danger level is 3 (step S23). Atthis time, the vehicle data control unit 4 activates the actuatorcontrol unit 12 according to the braking control program 39. Theactuator control unit 12 brakes the vehicle. Thereafter, the processreturns to step S13. The processes from steps S1 to S7 and the processesfrom steps S13 to S21 may be executed in parallel.

The monitoring area A at time T1 illustrated in FIG. 7 will beconsidered.

In step S13, the communication devices 9 of the vehicles a to c firstacquire the interest list from the server 20. In step S14, the vehicledata control unit 4 of each vehicle executes relative conversion on thetarget information in the interest list to a position appropriate from avehicle (referred to as a monitoring vehicle) that is monitoring othervehicles. Since the coordinates of the target acquired from each vehicleare relative coordinates from the acquired vehicle at the time of theinterest list, the coordinates of the target may be converted intocoordinates centering on the vehicle receiving the interest list. Thevehicle data control unit 4 calculates the relative distance or therelative speed from the converted coordinates or the like.

In the following example, the vehicle c is assumed to be the monitoringvehicle. A time in which the vehicle c transmits the list information tothe server 20 and the vehicle c receives the interest list from theserver 20 is assumed to be ΔT.

For example, as in FIGS. 10A to 10C, the vehicle c is assumed to havedriving information of a direction Dc1, a speed Vc1, and accelerationαc1 at a position (Xc1, Yc1) at time T1. The vehicle c is assumed tohave target information of the bicycle d that has a position (Xc11,Yc11), a direction Dc11, a speed Vc11, and acceleration αc11, targetinformation of the pedestrian e who have a position (Xc12, Yc12), adirection Dc12, a speed Vc12, and acceleration αc12, and targetinformation of the pedestrian f who have a position (Xc13, Yc13), adirection Dc13, a speed Vc13, and acceleration αc13. The vehicle ctransmits the target information as the list information to the server20 of the server system 2. The server data control unit 21 of the server20 sums the list information from the different vehicles to generate theinterest list illustrated in FIG. 12. At this time, for the same target,the positional information is added to be summed so that the positionalinformation is not duplicated in the interest list. The server 20transmits the interest list to the vehicle c and a time at which thevehicle c receives the interest list from the server 20 is T1+ΔT. Atthis time, because of the list information regarding the original timeT1, deviation occurs in a value of the interest list by ΔT. However, bycomparing a position (Xc1+ΔXc1, Yc1+ΔYc1) or a direction of the vehicleand the values of the speed and acceleration at T1+ΔT to the values attime T1, it is possible to calculate how much deviation occurs duringΔT. Therefore, it is possible to adjust the deviation in the informationin the interest list.

Even time deviation is corrected, coordinates of the vehicle a are notappropriate in the interest list information illustrated in FIG. 12.Therefore, for example, the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle acalculates the coordinates (Xac12, Yac12) of the pedestrian e seeing thevehicle a from the coordinates (Xc1, Yc1) of the vehicle c acquiring thetargets and the coordinates (Xc12, Yc12) of the pedestrian e on theinterest list. The vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle a furthercalculates a distance between the vehicle a and the pedestrian e fromthe calculated coordinates.

Generating Real-Time Map

In step S15, the vehicle data control unit 4 generates the real-time mapcentering on the vehicle. The generated real-time map is displayed onthe display unit 10 of each vehicle. For example, a target on thereal-time map may be displayed with only an icon on the display unit 10.Here, the generation of the real-time map will be described withreference to FIGS. 13 and 14.

FIG. 13 is a top view of example visual information of the vehicle a attime T1+ΔT. In FIG. 13, the vehicle b, the vehicle c, the bicycle d, thepedestrian e, and the pedestrian f are not displayed. FIG. 14A depicts areal-time map displayed on the display unit of vehicle a at time T1+ΔT.The vehicle data control unit 4 executes mapping based on the targetsubjected to the relative conversion in step S14. Thus, targets whichmay not be seen due to an obstacle such as a building can also bedisplayed on the real-time map based on information from the server 20.The generated real-time map is updated by repeating each step.

FIGS. 14B and 14C depict an example real-time map displayed on thedisplay unit of the vehicle b and an example real-time map displayed onthe display unit of the vehicle c at time T1+ΔT, respectively. Even thetargets which may not be seen from a monitoring vehicle are displayed oneach of the real-time maps.

Determining Danger Level

The vehicle data control unit 4 of each vehicle sets a danger level ofeach target displayed on the real-time map according to the roaddivision information during driving included in the interest list andthe danger determination program 36 p. The danger level is determined,for example, in accordance with the table of FIGS. 5A and 5Bcorresponding to danger level 1 as described above. Although notillustrated, danger levels 2 and 3 are determined in accordance with thetables of danger levels 2 and 3 equivalent to FIGS. 5A and 5B. Here, thevehicle data control unit 4 takes action for each danger level asfollows. At danger level 1, the vehicle data control unit 4 emphasizesand displays icons on the real-time map. At danger level 2, the vehicledata control unit 4 gives a warning to the driver of the vehicle. Atdanger level 3, the vehicle data control unit 4 controls driving of thevehicle. When it is determined in step S16 that the danger levels of allthe targets on the interest list are determined, the process returns tostep S13 to repeat each step again.

Danger Level 1

FIGS. 14A to 14C are diagrams illustrating the real-time maps displayedon the display units 10 of the vehicles a to c at time T1+ΔT. ΔTindicates a time lag occurring at the time of communication.

First, as illustrated in FIG. 14A, the real-time map at time T1+ΔT isdisplayed on the display unit 10 of the vehicle a. On the real-time map,pedestrians and vehicles unrecognizable due to an obstacle such as abuilding are also displayed.

when the targets are determined to be at danger level 1 according to thedanger determination program 36 p, the vehicle data control unit 4emphasizes and displays display icons according to the emphasis displayprogram 37 p.

For example, a case in which a distance La-e between the vehicle a andthe pedestrian e illustrated in FIG. 14A is equal to or less than athreshold Xp1b_a1 illustrated in FIG. 5 will be considered. In step S18,the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle a determines that thedanger level of the pedestrian e is equal to or greater than 1 withreference to the tables of FIGS. 5A and 5B. Subsequently, when thevehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle a determines in step S19 thatthe danger level of the pedestrian e is not equal to or greater than 2,the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle a determines that thedanger level of the pedestrian e is 1.

In step S20, the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle a emphasizesthe icon of the pedestrian e on the real-time map displayed on thedisplay unit 10. The determination of the danger level in accordancewith a distance has been described above, but the danger level may bedetermined in accordance with a speed difference between the vehicle aand the pedestrian e. The danger level may be determined when both theconditions are satisfied. In either case, when danger level 1 isdetermined, the icon of the pedestrian e is emphasized and displayed onthe display unit 10 of the vehicle a. As illustrated in FIG. 14A, whendanger level 1 is determined similarly for the vehicle c, the bicycle d,the pedestrian e, and the pedestrian f, each icon on the real-time mapof the vehicle a is emphasized and displayed.

Here, the emphasis of the icon is displayed with a figure such as acircle centering on the icon, but the radius or the size of the figureis assumed to be changed according to the target. That is, when aperson, a bicycle, a motorcycle, a vehicle, or the like requiresattention, the radius or the shape of the figure may be different. Theradius or the shape of the figure may be changed in accordance with aspeed of a vehicle or a road type, such as a highway, a national road,an urban area, or the like on which the vehicle is traveling. Whenseveral moving targets are displayed, for example, the number ofdisplayed moving targets and the sizes of the icons can be adjusted.Further, the target located in a blind spot in the vehicle may beemphasized and displayed in a blinking manner. In FIG. 14A to 17C, theicons are emphasized using circles for vehicles and figures for thebicycle and pedestrians different from the circles.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, only the icons of the targets may bedisplayed on the display unit 10 and the icons of the targets at dangerlevel 1 may be emphasized and displayed.

Subsequently, as illustrated in FIG. 14B, the pedestrians or thevehicles undetected due to the obstacle such as a building are alsodisplayed on the display unit 10 of the vehicle b similarly to thevehicle a. The vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle b emphasizesand displays the icon of the vehicle a determined to be at dangerlevel 1. However, the icon of the pedestrian e not corresponding todanger level 1 is not emphasized or displayed.

As illustrated in FIG. 14C, the pedestrians or the vehicles undetecteddue to the obstacle such as a building are also displayed on the displayunit 10 of the vehicle c similarly to the vehicle a. In the example ofFIG. 14C, the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle c determinesthat the vehicle a, the bicycle d, the pedestrian e, and the pedestrianf are at danger level 1 and emphases the display icons. In FIG. 14C, thepedestrians or the bicycle and the vehicles are emphasized usingdifferent figures.

When the vehicle data control unit 4 determines in step S22 that thedanger level is 2, the vehicle data control unit 4 transmits a commandto the alert unit 11 according to the warning program 38 p. The alertunit 11 outputs a warning to inform the driver of a danger.

FIG. 16 is a top view of the monitoring area A at time T2 after time T1.FIGS. 17A to 17C depict example screens on the display units 10 of thevehicles a to c at time T2+ΔT. ΔT indicates a time lag occurring at thetime of communication and is assumed to be negligible compared to T2.

First, as illustrated in FIG. 17A, targets which may not be seen at timeT1 can be seen on the display unit 10 of the vehicle a at time T2+ΔT.Similarly to at time T1, the icons of the pedestrians or the vehiclesthat are still undetected due to the obstacle such as a building arealso displayed on the real-time map. When the targets are determined tobe at danger level 1, the display icons are emphasized and displayedaccording to the emphasis display program 37 p. In FIG. 17A, the bicycled and the pedestrian e are emphasized and displayed.

Danger Level 2

As illustrated in FIG. 17B, the real-time map is displayed on thedisplay unit 10 of the vehicle b similarly to the vehicle a. Forexample, in FIG. 17B, it is assumed that the vehicle b approaches thevehicle a and the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle bdetermines that the vehicle a is at danger level 2 according to thedanger determination program 36 p. In this case, the vehicle datacontrol unit 4 transmits a command to the alert unit 11 according to thewarning program 38 p. The alert unit 11 of the vehicle b issues awarning to the driver of the vehicle b by a sound so that the driver canavoid collision with the vehicle a.

Danger Level 3

As illustrated in FIG. 17C, the real-time map is similarly displayed onthe display unit 10 of the vehicle c. The vehicles a and b may not beseen in traveling from the vehicle c. However, since each vehicleregularly transmits a current position of the vehicle to the server 20,the vehicle c can acquire information regarding the other vehicles untilthe monitoring area to which the vehicle c belongs is changed. Thus, thedriver does not abruptly lose information regarding other the vehicles.

For example, in FIG. 17C, it is assumed that the vehicle c approachesthe bicycle d and the vehicle data control unit 4 of the vehicle cdetermines that the bicycle d is at danger level 3 according to thedanger determination program 36 p. The vehicle data control unit 4transmits a command the actuator control unit 12 according to thebraking control program 39 p. The actuator control unit 12 of thevehicle c automatically operates devices such as a handle, a brake, anairbag, and the like mounted on the vehicle. Thus, it is possible toprevent the vehicle c from colliding with the bicycle d.

In this way, the interest list is shared in the monitoring area, but thereal-time map displayed on the display unit 10 differs for each vehicle.The real-time map is regularly updated in accordance with the interestlist transmitted from the server 20.

The pedestrian f displayed from FIG. 17A to 17C is unrecognizable fromany vehicle. However, the pedestrian f can be detected to be sharedbetween areas by installing the image capturing unit 3 on the rear sideof the vehicle or utilizing a curve mirror installed on a road or anapparatus on which a device is mounted.

Operational Effect and Advantages

In the vehicle and the driving support system including the vehicleaccording to the first embodiment, the vehicle extracts a target from animage acquired from the image capturing unit 3 and information regardingthe target that is shared between a plurality of vehicles in the samemonitoring area. Each vehicle can generate a real-time map inconsideration of the degree of danger of the target based on the sharedinformation. Thus, a target which may not be seen from the vehicle canbe detected on the real-time map. Since the captured image is shared inaccordance with information regarding the target and driving informationof the vehicle rather than being simply combined and shared, onlynecessary information for a specific vehicle may be processed and dangercan be easily detected.

Second Embodiment

A driving support system according to a second embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 18 to 21. The same reference numeralsare used for the components that are substantially the same as those ofthe first embodiment, and the detailed description of repeatedcomponents may be omitted. In the second embodiment, the listinformation is transmitted and received between the vehicles. That is,each vehicle shares each piece of list information without the server 2.

FIG. 18 depicts an overall configuration of a driving support system 200according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 18, thedriving support system 200 includes a plurality of monitoring systems50. As illustrated in FIG. 19, the monitoring system 50 includes animage capturing unit 3, a data control unit 51, a time acquisition unit5, a positional information acquisition unit 6, a speed sensor 7, anacceleration sensor 8, a wireless communication device 9, a display unit10, an alert unit 11, and an actuator control unit 12.

In the second embodiment, the list information is directly transmittedand received between a plurality of vehicles belonging to the samemonitoring area. That is, each vehicle executes the processes that areto be executed by the server system 2 according to the first embodiment.The vehicle data control unit 51 executes the processes of the programsexecuted by the server data control unit 21.

Differences between the driving support systems 200 and 100 will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 20A and 20B.

As illustrated in FIGS. 20A and 20B, the monitoring system 50 executesan operation from steps R1 to R21. Processes of steps R1 to R7illustrated in FIG. 20A and processes of steps R8 to R21 illustrated inFIG. 20B may be generally executed in parallel. The processes executedin the server system 2 in the driving support system 100 are equivalentto steps R8 to R11 of the driving support system 200 illustrated in FIG.20B. FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of a storage region of a ROM 512.

The vehicle data control unit 51 of the vehicle generates an interestlist with reference to the list information transmitted from anothervehicle in the monitoring area. The process is the same as the processof the server 20 of the server system 2 according to the firstembodiment. At this time, for the same target, the positionalinformation is added to be summed so that the positional information isnot duplicated in the interest list. Thereafter, the targets arerelativized from the generated interest list to generate a real-timemap. This process is the same as the process of the vehicle system 1according to the first embodiment.

By executing the communication between the vehicles without anintervening server, it is possible to accelerate a processing speed. Asa communication between vehicles, a spread spectrum communication schemehaving a narrow frequency bandwidth thus being resistant to noise orradio wave interference or the like may be adopted.

Third Embodiment

A driving support system 300 according to a third embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 22-25. The same reference numerals areused for the components that are substantially the same as those of thefirst embodiment, and the detailed description of repeated componentsmay be omitted. In the third embodiment, monitoring system are notlimited to a vehicle system that is mounted on a vehicle and one or moreof monitoring systems are mounted in a device such as a smartphone, acomputer, a timepiece, or glasses carried by a person, in addition to avehicle. A beacon or the like installed on a robot, a poll or a wall, ora road is assumed to serve as the monitoring systems according the firstand the second embodiments. FIG. 22 depicts an overall configuration ofa driving support system 300 according to the third embodiment. Asillustrated in FIGS. 22 and 23, the driving support system 300 includesa plurality of monitoring systems 1, including a vehicle system on avehicle, and the server system 2.

FIG. 24 is a top view of the monitoring area A at time T2. In thisexample, the pedestrian e carries a device terminal, such as a mobilephone, which is a monitoring system 1 and a curve mirror g is also amonitoring system 1.

The pedestrian e and the curve mirror g operate in accordance with anexample of the flowchart of the vehicle systems (referred to asmonitoring systems in the third embodiment) and server systemsillustrated in FIGS. 6A to 6C.

An operation of the driving support system 300 is the same as that ofthe driving support systems 100 and 200. In the driving support system300, all the monitoring systems may not receive the list information andthe interest list.

For example, when one of the monitoring systems 1 is, for example, thecurve mirror g installed on a communication road in FIG. 24, the listinformation and the interest list may be not received by the curvemirror g to generate a real-time map. In this case, the data controlunit 4 of the curve mirror g may not execute the processes of steps S13to S23 illustrated in FIG. 6B and the processes of steps R8 to R21illustrated in FIG. 20B. As illustrated in FIG. 25, the data controlunit 4 of the curve mirror g may not determine a danger level aftergenerating a real-time map and may display the real-time map on adisplay unit of another external device through the processes of stepsR8 to R15 instead of the steps illustrated in FIG. 6B.

When the pedestrian e carries, for example, a device which is themonitoring system 50 in FIG. 24, the data control unit 4 of the devicetransmits the list information for which information regarding thetargets is not input to the server system 2. However, when the deviceincludes the image capturing unit 3, the device may be handled as in thevehicles of the driving support systems 100 and 200. In actuatorcontrol, collision is avoided through vibration or the like of theterminal instead of operating a device such as a handle, a brake, anairbag, or the like mounted on the vehicle. Thus, it is possible toprevent a collision of a pedestrian or the like with the vehicle or thetarget.

By utilizing a peripheral device other than the vehicle or publicequipment to share more accurate information, it is possible to generatea real-time map with high precision. That is, the real-time map can begenerated even when a narrow road for vehicle passage or traveling onthe road may not be executed due to an obstacle. Even other than avehicle, it is possible to detect danger such as collision and urge apedestrian to avoid the danger by the driving support system 300.

Fourth Embodiment

A driving support system 400 according to a fourth embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 26A and 26B. The same referencenumerals are used for the components that are substantially the same asthose of the first embodiment, and the detailed description of repeatedcomponents may be omitted. In the fourth embodiment, a vehicle belongingto another monitoring area can acquire road traffic information byreceiving a real-time map generated in vehicle system and othermonitoring systems or the interest list generated in the server systemand monitoring systems. By receiving the interest list informationgenerated in the server system and monitoring systems, it is possible toacquire traffic information from even a vehicle located in anothermonitoring area.

FIGS. 26A and 26B depict an overall configuration of the driving supportsystem 400 according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 26A, the vehicledata control unit 4 of a vehicle belonging to the monitoring area Aaccesses the server 20 to acquire interest lists corresponding to themonitoring area B. An amount of traffic such as vehicles or pedestrianscan be acquired from the interest lists. As illustrated in FIG. 26B, avehicle in the monitoring area A may directly receive the interest listor the real-time map generated by a vehicle belonging to the monitoringarea B.

By detecting road congestion, accident information, or the like in realtime, it is possible to execute route searching quickly and accuratelyto avoid congestion. Further, since information regarding thepedestrians other than the vehicles can be detected together, a roadhaving less potential danger can be selected to drive the vehicle.

Fifth Embodiment

A driving support system 500 according to a fifth embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 27 and 28. The same reference numeralsare used for the components that are substantially the same as those ofthe first embodiment, and the detailed description of repeatedcomponents may be omitted. In the fourth embodiment, weather informationof another monitoring area can be acquired by receiving the real-timemap generated in the vehicle system and other monitoring systems or theinterest list generated in the server system and monitoring systems inthe other area.

The monitoring system 50 of a vehicle (also referred to as a vehiclesystem) in the driving support system 500 acquires weather informationin a monitoring area to which the vehicle belongs from image or movingimage information acquired from the image capturing unit 3. By addingthe weather information to the list information, a server, a vehiclebelonging to another monitoring area, or the like can acquire theweather information.

FIG. 27 is a top view of the monitoring areas A and B. In FIG. 27, themonitoring areas A and B are adjacent to each other and diagonal linesindicate an overlapping portion. In FIG. 27, it is assumed that it issnowing in the monitoring area B. At this time, the vehicle data controlunit 4 or the vehicle data control unit 51 of a vehicle h belonging tothe monitoring area B determines that it is snowing in the monitoringarea B from image or moving image information acquired from the imagecapturing unit 3. The vehicle data control unit 4 or the data controlunit 51 adds the weather information to the list information of thevehicle h as in an example illustrated in FIG. 28 and transmits the listinformation to the server system 2 or other vehicles belonging to otherareas. The vehicle system and the other monitoring systems of thedriving support system 500 may include a thermometer or a hygrometer sothat information such as temperature or humidity may be included in thelist information.

Similarly to the first to fourth embodiments, the vehicle a belonging tothe monitoring area A can communicate with the server system 2 or thevehicle h belonging to the monitoring area B to acquire the weatherinformation of the monitoring area B in real time. Thus, it is possibleto acquire conditions of a destination or a road and it is possible toenable safer and comfortable driving.

While certain embodiments and modification examples have been described,these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and arenot intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novelembodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of otherforms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in theform of the embodiments described herein may be made without departingfrom the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and theirequivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as wouldfall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A driving support system, comprising: a firstmonitoring device on a first object, the first monitoring device havinga first controller, a first camera, and a first display; a secondmonitoring device on a second object, the second monitoring devicehaving a second controller and a second camera; and a server incommunication with the first and second monitoring devices, wherein thefirst and second controllers are each configured to: detect a target inimages acquired from the respective first or second camera; and transmittarget information based on the images to the server, wherein the serveris configured to: generate list information including the targetinformation from the first and second monitoring devices; transmit thelist information to the first monitoring device when the first object iswithin a first monitoring area; and determine a danger level based onthe list information, wherein the first controller is further configuredto: generate a map and an icon of the target according to the listinformation received from the server; display the map and the icon onthe first display; and emphasize the icon if the danger level exceeds apredetermined value.
 2. The driving support system according to claim 1,wherein the first object is a vehicle.
 3. The driving support systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the second object is an electronicapparatus that is installed adjacent to a road to monitor objects on theroad and can communicate with the server.
 4. The driving support systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the second object is a cellphone.
 5. Thedriving support system according to claim 2, wherein the second objectis another vehicle.
 6. The driving support system according to claim 2,wherein the display is projected onto a windshield of the vehicle. 7.The driving support system according to claim 1, wherein when the firstobject moves from the first monitoring area to a second monitoring area,the first controller generates a map according to list informationregarding the second monitoring area received from the server, and thefirst monitoring area has an overlapping portion with the secondmonitoring area.
 8. The driving support system according to claim 1,wherein the first controller generates the map of an area in the firstmonitoring area that includes targets detected according to the listinformation.
 9. The driving support system according to claim 1, whereina target detected according to the list information is displayed on themap.
 10. The driving support system according to claim 1, wherein thelist information includes weather information.
 11. The driving supportsystem according to claim 1, wherein the list information includestraffic information.
 12. The driving support system according to claim1, wherein the danger level is calculated in accordance with a relativedistance or the relative speed of the first object with respect to thetarget.
 13. A driving support monitoring device on a vehicle comprising:a controller configured to establish communication with an externalmonitoring device; a camera configured to capture images of a peripheryof the vehicle; and a display, wherein the controller is configured to:acquire images from the camera; detect a target in images acquired fromthe camera; receive target information for the target from the externalmonitoring device; generate list information including the calculatedtarget information and the target information received from the externalmonitoring device; generate a map and an icon of the target according tothe list information when the vehicle and the external monitoring deviceare within a first monitoring area; display the map and the icon on thedisplay; and emphasize the icon if the danger level exceeds apredetermined value.
 14. The driving support monitoring device accordingto claim 13, wherein the external monitoring device is an electronicapparatus that is installed adjacent to a road to monitor objects on theroad and can communicate with the vehicle.
 15. The driving supportmonitoring device according to claim 13, wherein the external monitoringdevice is a cellphone.
 16. The driving support monitoring deviceaccording to claim 13, wherein when the vehicle moves from the firstmonitoring area to a second monitoring area, the first controllergenerates a map according to list information regarding the secondmonitoring area, and the first monitoring area has an overlappingportion with the second monitoring area.
 17. The driving supportmonitoring device according to claim 13, wherein the danger level iscalculated in accordance with a relative distance or the relative speedof the first object with respect to the target.